Losing a Test to Pakistan hurt, but Australia (73.7) continue to reign supreme in the Rediff Test Rankings; chiefly because the ranking scheme looks at a wider performance window than the ICC Reliance Mobile rankings.
We must stress that there is no 'perfect' ranking scheme. The ICC Reliance Mobile rankings use one kind of model, while the Rediff rankings use a different, but just as rigorous, formulation. Both methods have their pros and cons, although only one carries the 'official' tag. A cricket fan would probably like to look at both.
England (46.1) are resurgent and could zoom to the top if they win an away Ashes series. Pakistan (42.2) have climbed after impressive wins against Australia and England. A quick calculation indicates that Pakistan might have been ahead of England if they had won the tests at Sydney and Lord's; a Sydney win would have been especially invaluable because test cricket's greatest challenge is still to beat Australia in Australia.
India (64.1) too gain, because they managed to draw away in Sri Lanka ... which too is something that sides visiting Sri Lanka achieve rarely.
Table A updates the ratings after these results, and also England's 2-0 wins at home and away against Bangladesh, Australia's thumping 2-0 triumph away in New Zealand and South Africa's 2-0 away victory in the Caribbean.
TABLE A: Final Rankings (as on Sep 6, 2010) |
Country | Performance index (RBI) | Diff: 16.3.10 -> 6.9.10 | Rank |
Australia | 73.69 | -3.46 | 1 |
India | 64.06 | +1.25 | 2 |
South Africa | 63.51 | +0.63 | 2 |
Sri Lanka | 46.92 | -1.01 | 4 |
England | 46.10 | -1.11 | 5 |
Pakistan | 42.23 | +5.58 | 6 |
New Zealand | 30.79 | -0.94 | 7 |
West Indies | 28.39 | -0.75 | 8 |
Zimbabwe | 13.06 | +0.76 | 9 |
Bangladesh | 7.25 | -0.06 | 10 |
The current Reliance Mobile ICC Test rankings (as on September 6, 2010) are: India (127), South Africa (119), Sri Lanka (115), Australia (113), England (112), Pakistan (83), West Indies (79), New Zealand (78), Zimbabwe (12?) and Bangladesh (7).
The current home-away points tally of Test-playing teams is shown in Table B.
-- How the rankings work...
TABLE B: Test Score Card (as on Sep 6, 2010) |
A W A Y | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aus | Ban | Eng | Ind | NZ | Pak | RSA | SL | WI | Zim | ||
H O M E |
Australia | 2 / 2 2 / 2 |
2 / 5 5 / 5 |
1 / 4 2.5 / 4 |
2 / 2 2 / 2 |
1 / 2 3 / 3 |
2 / 3 1 / 3 |
3 / 3 2 / 2 |
2.5/3 2.5 / 3 |
1 / 1 2 / 2 | |
Bangladesh | 0 / 2 0 / 2 |
0 / 2 0 / 2 |
- 0 / 2 |
0 / 1 0.5 / 2 |
0 / 3 0 / 2 |
0 / 2 0 / 2 |
0 / 3 0 / 2 |
2 / 2 0 / 2 |
0.5 / 2 1.5 / 2 | ||
England | 0 / 5 3 / 5 |
2 / 2 2 / 2 |
0.5 / 2 1 / 3 |
2 / 3 2.5/3 |
0.5 / 3 3 / 4 |
2 / 4 1.5 / 4 |
1 / 3 1.5 / 3 |
2 / 5 2 / 2 |
1 / 2 2 / 2 | ||
India | 1.5 / 4 3 / 4 |
2 / 2 - |
2 / 3 1.5 / 2 |
2 / 3 1 / 2 |
1 / 3 2 / 3 |
1 / 3 1 / 2 |
1.5 / 3 2.5 / 3 |
2.5 / 4 2.5 / 3 |
2 / 2 2 / 2 | ||
New Zealand | 0 / 2 0 / 2 |
1.5 / 2 1 / 1 |
0.5/3 1 / 3 |
1 / 2 1 / 3 |
0 / 1 1.5 / 3 |
0 / 2 1.5 / 3 |
0 / 2 1 / 2 |
1.5 / 2 1 / 2 |
2 / 2 0.5 / 1 | ||
Pakistan | 0 / 3 1 / 2 |
2 / 2 3 / 3 |
1 / 4 2.5 / 3 |
1 / 3 2 / 3 |
1.5 / 3 1 / 1 |
1 / 3 0.5 / 2 |
0.5 / 3 1 / 2 |
1 / 2 2.5 / 3 |
2 / 2 1 / 3 | ||
South Africa | 2 / 3 1 / 3 |
2 / 2 2 / 2 |
2.5 / 4 2 / 4 |
1 / 2 2 / 3 |
1.5 / 3 2 / 2 |
1.5 / 2 2 / 3 |
0 / 2 2 / 2 |
2.5 / 3 2 / 3 |
1 / 1 2 / 2 | ||
Sri Lanka | 0 / 2 0 / 3 |
2 / 2 3 / 3 |
1.5 / 3 2 / 3 |
0.5 / 3 1.5 / 3 |
1 / 2 2 / 2 |
1 / 2 2.5 / 3 |
0 / 2 2 / 2 |
1 / 2 2 / 2 |
2 / 2 3 / 3 | ||
West Indies | 0.5 / 3 0.5/3 |
2 / 2 0 / 2 |
0 / 2 3 / 5 |
0.5 / 3 1.5 / 4 |
1 / 2 0.5 / 2 |
0 / 2 1 / 2 |
1 / 3 0.5 / 3 |
0 / 2 1 / 2 |
1.5 / 2 2 / 2 | ||
Zimbabwe | 0 / 2 0 / 1 |
0.5 / 2 1.5 / 2 |
0 / 2 1 / 2 |
0 / 2 0 / 2 |
0.5 / 1 0 / 2 |
2 / 3 0 / 2 |
0 / 2 0 / 1 |
0 / 3 0 / 2 |
0 / 2 0.5 / 2 |
Table C summarizes the home-away series win record of all the nine Test playing countries and Zimbabwe. Note that this table lists statistics relating to Test series, not individual Test matches. So although England defeated Pakistan 3-1 at home, it is counted as one home series win for England and one away series loss for Pakistan.
TABLE C: Series 'win-draw-loss' record (with 'home'-'away' break-up) (as on Sep 6, 2010) | *No India-Bangladesh series so far in India |
Country | No of home wins | No of away wins | Total wins | No of home draws | No of away draws | Total draws | No of home losses | No of away losses | Total losses |
Australia | 8 | 6 | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
Bangladesh | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 7* | 15* |
England | 6 | 2 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
India | 6* | 5 | 11* | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
New Zealand | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
Pakistan | 5 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
South Africa | 7 | 6 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Sri Lanka | 7 | 2 | 9 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
West Indies | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
Zimbabwe | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
Our next update will appear after India's home series against Australia.